A spokesperson says Austin police officers and Mower County deputies responded to Jim’s Marketplace around 8:30 p.m. after receiving reports that a man had taken a female cashier hostage by holding scissors against her neck.

After the law enforcement officers arrived at the scene, a 17-year-old girl managed to escape and run through a door at the back of the business, clearing the way for the arrest of 49-year-old Jeremy Johnson. Witnesses reported he was acting strangely before he grabbed the store employee and Johnson told Austin police he had ingested some so-called “plant food,” in an apparent reference to a type of synthetic stimulant.

The teenage victim was not injured.

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